Mary A. Day was a librarian at the Gray Herbarium and she likely compiled the botanist
biographies.

The Jane Gray autograph collection was started by Asa Gray during visits to Europe,
beginning in 1839, where Gray received many autographed letters from prominent botanists.
In 1890 Isabella James donated her collection of autographs and portraits of early
American botanists to the Gray Herbarium. The Gray and James collections were merged
by Jane Loring Gray and biographical information was added. Those materials comprise
the Jane Gray autograph collection, which is cataloged as a separate collection, and
was donated to the Gray Herbarium by Jane Loring Gray in 1898. Much of the material
in this collection was likely gathered at the same time as the Jane Gray autograph
collection materials but were not incorporated into those albums.

The Miscellaneous autograph collection was arranged by the staff of the Herbarium
but the materials may have originally belonged to Jane Gray because her name is on
many of the envelopes.

The collection is available by appointment for research. Researchers must register
and provide two forms of valid photo identification. Please contact botref@oeb.harvard.edu
for additional information.

Jane Lathrop Loring Gray was born in Boston on August 21, 1821, to Charles Greely
Loring, a prominent Boston lawyer and Massachusetts state senator, and Anna Pierce
(Brace) Loring. In the mid-1840s, Jane met Dr. Asa Gray after attending one of his
lectures at Harvard. They married in 1848. She aided Gray in his work, organizing
and responding to his correspondence, chronicling his career and eventually publishing
a book of important correspondence titled "Letters of Asa Gray" (1893). After her
husband's death, Jane worked to expand and complete his collection of autographs of
botanists. Asa Gray started this collection during his first visit to Europe in 1839
and it included autographs given to him by European colleagues and his own correspondents.
Jane Gray died July 29, 1909.

Isabella (Batchelder) James was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, on September 19,
1810, to Samuel and Mary Batchelder. In 1851 she married botanist Thomas Potts James,
a colleague of Asa Gray, and moved with him to Philadelphia. Isabella was one of
the first directors of the School of Design for Women, and a philanthropist who volunteered
her home as a hospital during the Civil War. She was also head of the Women's Freedmen's
Commission and the Episcopal Freedmen's Commission after the war ended. Upon her mother's
death, Isabella returned to her parents' home in Cambridge to take care of her father.
While living in Cambridge, she was chair of the Cambridge Ladies' Centennial Committee,
and wrote articles for various magazines. Isabella died on August 6, 1901, at her
home in Devonshire, England.

Belle A. Watson was the niece of Sereno Watson, botanist and curator of the Gray Herbarium.
She was a companion to Jane Gray after Asa Gray's death.

Mary A. Day's biographies include approximately 200 biographies of botanists which
were probably compiled by Mary A. Day. The biographies are generally no more than
a page and some include notes on published works. The biographies are on loose sheets
and are arranged alphabetically. This collection also includes a checklist of autographs
and handwriting by Mary A. Day that does not seem to be related to the biographies.

Materials about the Jane Gray autograph collection includes a letter and clipping
about the donation of the Jane Gray autograph collection to the Gray Herbarium. Also
includes three small notebooks containing an index of the letters in the Jane Gray
autograph collection in Belle A. Watson's handwriting and a typed copy of that index.

Miscellaneous autograph collection includes autographs and handwriting samples of
miscellaneous botanists. Most of the samples are small snippets or addresses on envelopes
rather than complete letters. These autographs may have been compiled by Jane Gray
because many of the envelopes are addressed to her.

Jane Gray's and Isabella James's biographies of botanists consists of correspondence,
brief notes on botanists, Jane Gray's notes on botanists, an autobiographical sketch
of William Darlington, Isabella James's biographies of botanists, and Belle A. Watson's
indexes to notes on botanists.

Scope and Contents: Index of the letters in Jane Gray's autograph collection.

Bio 6. Box 1Typed copy of index

Series: Miscellaneous autograph collection

Bio 7. Box 1Botanists A-C

Bio 8. Box 1Botanists D-H

Bio 9. Box 1Botanists I-R

Bio 10. Box 2Botanists S-Z

Series: Jane Gray's and Isabella James's biographies

Bio 11. Box 1, Correspondence Date: 1894-1897

Scope and Contents: Correspondence about the collection of autographs or about the lives of botanist.
Includes six letters to Jane Gray (1894-1895), including one from Isabella James,
which gives information about William Peck and about autographs owned by Mrs. James.
One letter to Isabella James, 1897.

Scope and Contents: This is a polished manuscript containing biographical descriptions, generally 1 to
3 pages on large sheets. James intended to include portraits, autographs and flowers
in her manuscript, however, only a few pressed plants with the names of botanists
remain. The manuscript was started in 1850 and includes an 1860 preface.